CM Jagan meets Modi, seeks ₹10k crore from Centre for Polavaram
he chief minister also asked Modi to reimburse ₹2,900 crore which was spent by the state government on the Polavaram project. He requested that the Prime Minister clear the bills in total fortnightly like for other national projects and not component-wise
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday appealed to the Centre to release ₹10,000 crore on ad hoc basis for the early completion of Polavaram irrigation project on Godavari river, and rehabilitation of the project evacuees.
Reddy also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in the morning and submitted a memorandum on several issues related to the state, an official release from the chief minister’s office (CMO) said.
The chief minister also shared with Modi about the submergence of several villages in the backwaters of Polavaram project, causing severe hardship to the project evacuees. He requested Modi to approve the revised cost estimates of ₹55,548.87 crore as cleared by the Technical Advisory Committee of the Central Water Commission. Under the rehabilitation and resettlement package, Reddy suggested that payments be made to such families under direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode to ensure transparency.
The chief minister also asked Modi to reimburse ₹2,900 crore which was spent by the state government on the Polavaram project. He requested that the Prime Minister clear the bills in total fortnightly like for other national projects and not component-wise.
Reddy also asked Modi to release funds of ₹32,625 crore under resource gap fund for various pending bills, including social security pensions and others during the period 2014-15.
He explained to the PM that due to lack of rationalization in the selection of eligible persons under the National Food Security Act, the state was suffering losses.
He said that the state government was providing ration to 2.68 crore beneficiaries, of which 61% belong to rural areas and 41% are from urban areas.
He reminded that as per the law, 75% people in rural areas and 50% in urban areas should get benefits under PDS. States like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat, which are economically better than Andhra Pradesh, have almost 10% more beneficiaries than AP, due to which the state government is providing ration to the leftover 56 lakh eligible beneficiaries shouldering an additional burden of ₹5,527.63 crore.
He said the NITI Aayog had already met with the state officials and informed the central government to revise the data in this regard and reminded Modi that the allocations to Andhra Pradesh should be examined.
He explained to the Prime Minister that 3 lakh tonnes of the rice quota allotted to the state every month remains unutilized, and asked him to allocate only 77,000 tonnes, which will be sufficient for the distribution without causing any additional burden on the Centre.
Jagan also asked Modi to give approvals to allot beach sand minerals to Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation which could attract investments of ₹20,000 crore. He said 14 approvals regarding the same are pending.